Don't mess with Loyd Church. If the 81-year-old man can do this to a copperhead snake, imagine what he'd do to you if you cross him:

Loyd Church, who lives along Vannoy Road, said he was in his garden last week when the snake snapped at him and bit him on his hand between his thumb and index finger.

"I was picking cucumbers, and he was hiding up under them vines," the soft-spoken Church said Friday.

Church, who avoids going to the doctor whenever possible, said he remembered seeing his father treat snake bites as a boy and decided to perform the same procedure.

"I gripped my hand and stuck it down in," Church said, describing how he used a knife to cut a slit between the two fang marks before sucking the venom out. He then killed the snake by stomping on it with his boot.

Now if that isn't badassery, I don't know what is: Link (Photo: Chris Petersen)

Back a few months ago, in Africa, we got a phone call that one of the farm workers had been bitten by baby Zebra snake who was sleeping under his pillow. Yes, these bites can be fatal. He texted us that he was "eated by a snake" but that it was OK, because he sucked the poison out and drank some goat milk, which seems to be the thing to do. It is good that he knows this since the nearest paved road is 1 hour away and then it's another 1/2 hour to any hospital - that might or might not have any antivenin.